How Practicing the 5 Buddhist Precepts Changed my Life.

I thought it would be easy to practice them. The fact is, we have built up particular mental constructs about terms like killing or stealing. For instance, we associate killing with ending human life and stealing with breaking into a shop. I was oblivious to the fact that the concepts of “killing” or “stealing” go beyond our traditional expectations. I finally understood this during my first few hours at Tushita Meditation Center when the nun went through every precept in detail. Beautifully enough, she asked us to label the precepts as guidelines rather than rules. She made clear they’re not commandments, but it’s valuable to respect them. The precepts are the foundation of all Buddhist teaching. Some Buddhists observe more than five precepts, but the majority follow these basic ones, which aim to help with the purity of our minds and bodies. <a href="https://medium.com/elephantspirituality/how-practicing-the-5-buddhist-precepts-changed-my-life-da82c033a6bb">Website</a>